Beijing to build more urban forests

BEIJING — Beijing will build at least one urban forest in each of its 16 districts in a move to further improve the city’s environment, the deputy mayor said at a conference on Sept 27.

The city has relocated 467 markets and logistic centers and regained around 12,000 hectares of land by demolishing illegal buildings, according to Zhang Gong, deputy mayor of Beijing.

Beijing is one of 300 forest cities that China aims to create by 2025 to help improve the ecology of urban areas. In 2017, the average area of green land and parks per capita in the city’s core areas has increased 8 percent from 2015.

The urban forest can serve to moderate local climate, improve air quality, create noise barriers, provide shelters to animals and improve local biodiversity.

Zhang said the city will further improve the environment and build more green spaces. In addition to the urban forests, the city also plans to build more pocket parks, which are small parks usually created on small, irregular pieces of land.